Tsiipras’ message to Turkey: ‘Respect for international law a prerequisite for stability’
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
CAIRO (ANA/ N. Lionakis) Achieving stability in the region demanded respect for international law, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in an indirect message to Turkey, after the 4th Greece-Cyprus-Egypt trilateral summit held in Cairo on Tuesday.
“[This] is a self-evident prerequisite for ensuring stability in our region and the only possible basis for developing relations of friendship between our countries,” Tsipras noted, after his meeting with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The Greek prime minister said that trilateral cooperation with Cyprus and Egypt was a strategic choice made by the Greek government in order to promote peace, security, stability and common growth in the fragile region of the eastern Mediterranean. A large part the talks during the summit focused on regional developments, the need to respect international law and cultivate good neighbourhood relationships, he said.
“Recently, it is extremely worrying that voices are being heard in our region that move in the opposite direction and even raise issues that dispute fundamental international treaties. I believe that the reply to any such dispute must be joint, absolutely clear and completely firm, both on the part of the international community and on the part of all the neighbouring countries, whose only goal is to preserve stability, security and cooperation in the region,” Tsipras said.
In other statements after the trilateral summit, he noted that the countries of the region that shared a desire for regional stability and prosperity must work together.
“We decided that there should be regular meetings between our ministers,” the prime minister told reporters.
The meeting had also underscored the principle of good neighbourhood as the basis of cooperation, in the context of an intensifying multiple-level crisis in the region, he added.
Tsipras referred to the necessity for a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem that benefited all Cypriots, expressing Athens’ support for the significant effort during the talks now underway on this issue.
He said the meeting had also noted the necessity for a ceasefire in Syria and repeated the importance of a solution to the Palestinian problem.
Before the start of the trilateral summit with , Tsipras said the three leaders had planted three olive trees in a symbolic gesture indicating their joint commitment and their joint aims.